Lowell stops by to work with Middlebrooks

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Red Sox reunion tour continued on Tuesday, with former third baseman Mike Lowell stopping by JetBlue Park.

Tim Britton

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Red Sox reunion tour continued on Tuesday, with former third baseman Mike Lowell stopping by JetBlue Park.

Lowell would have come by to visit with his old friends, anyway, but Dustin Pedroia encouraged him to spend a little time working with Will Middlebrooks on the mechanics of playing third -- something the team embraced.

"It's huge for me. That's the guy who's won World Series and a Gold Glove," said Middlebrooks. "That's what I want to do. Any time I can get information from a guy with that experience, it can help."

"(With) Mike's defensive track record in his career, anything that we could pull from Mike with Will would have been beneficial, particularly as he fields some balls to his glove side and some footwork that goes along with that," manager John Farrell said. "They had a good work day. I know Will was engaged in it."

Pedro Martinez and Jason Varitek, both special assistants to the general manager, have each spent time in camp. Lowell joined Tim Wakefield at the park on Tuesday.

"He had a couple days, so he came by," said Middlebrooks. "Just working on my angles at third. You've got to play at like a 45-degree angle, and a lot of times I get too flat and that gives you a lot of in-between hops and I don't get to as many balls."

"I don't have a secret potion to say, 'Do this, and you're going to be a tremendous third baseman,'" Lowell said. "But we're going to talk. "Talking for 10 minutes, you get a lot more information on what he thinks.... I don't think he's a defensive liability, but I think he wants to get better. Hopefully I can help that out."

Wakefield spent time with knuckleballer Steven Wright, as he had on Monday in Dunedin.